ENGL 420 Literature and Film
Spring 2016
Course Outline
Date / Topic / Readings and or Screenings / Due Dates1/14 / Course introduction
1/19 / Animal Studies / “Animal Studies and Film:
An interview with Matthew Brower;”
Shapiro and DeMello, “The State of Human-Animal Studies”
1/21 / Aesthetic rubric for adaptations / Cahir, “Novels and Novellas into Film and an Aesthetic Rubric for Film Translations of Literature”
1/26 / The Old Man and the Sea / Hemingway,The Old Man and the Sea
1/28 / In-class screening, AleksandrPetrov’sThe Old Man and the Sea
2/4 / The Old Man and the Seadiscussion
2/6 / Looking at Animals / Berger, “Why Look at Animals?” Burt, “John Berger’s Why Look at Animals, A Close Reading”
2/9 / In-class screening, Nicolas Philibert’sNenette / Creed, “Nenette: Film theory, animals, and boredom”
2/11 / Nenette discussion / Gruen, “Dignity, Captivity, and an Ethics of Sight.” / Sequence analysis
2/16 / Murders in the Rue Morgue / Poe, Murders in the Rue Morgue
2/18 / Murders in the Rue Morgue
2/23 / War Horse (novel) / Michael Morpurgo, War Horse; DeMello, “Introduction: Speaking for Animals”
2/25 / War Horse
3/1 / The Making of War Horse documentary (in-class screening) / Parker-Starbuck, “Animal Ontologies and Media Representations: Robotics, Puppets, and the Real of War Horse;”
3/3 / Discussion of War Horse (play and film) / [Screen] War Horse, Dir. Steven Spielberg.
3/8 / Discussion of War Horse (film) / Burt, “Film and the History of the Visual Animal”
3/10 / The Animal Gaze / Woodward, “Introduction: The Animal Gaze”
Spring break
3/22 / Animal narratives / Brian Doyle, Martin Marten; McHugh, “Conclusion: Toward a narrative Ethology;”
3/24 / Martin Marten and umwelt / Horowitz, Umweldt: From the Dog’s Point of Nose;” Peterson, “Introduction: Animals and Nature;” / Fundamental concepts paper
3/29 / Martin Marten (discussion)
3/31 / Martin Marten (discussion)
4/5 / When Species Meet / Haraway, “Training in the Contact Zone”
4/7 / Blackfish – in class screening / Zimmerman, “The Killer in the Pool.”
4/12 / Blackfish
4/14 / Blackfish (discussion)
4/19 / Peer reviews of paper proposals
4/21 / TBD
4/26 / Individual conferences
4/28 / Individual conferences
5/3 / In-class presentations
5/5 / In-class presentations / Semester papers